UNF interns and others make meaningful progress in solving community problems

Students from throughout Florida showed how data science and technology design can impact social good in communities during the 2024 Florida Data Science for Social Good (FL-DSSG) Big Reveal on Thursday, Aug. 21.

After completing 12-week, in-person internships, the 12 students - nine from the University of North Florida - representing various disciplines, discussed their team's efforts in helping Jacksonville-area nonprofits find solutions to difficult-to-solve social and cultural problems.

The event, hosted by UNF at WJCT Studios, is in its seventh year.

"Our student interns are carefully selected for each community partner," said Dr. Karthikeyan Umapathy, associate professor, School of Computing and one of the co-founders of DSSG. "After the 12 weeks, these students have learned the value of building a high quality of life in our communities."

Kevin Hyde, chair of UNF's Board of Trustees, acknowledged the interns and their work and said the event aligns with the University's Strategic Plan to elevate academic excellence through experiential learning and civic engagement, research and more.

The nonprofits included:

• Cathedral Arts Project - In its third year working with DSSG interns, CAP and its partners continued their work in the Arts in Schools Celebration rubric and feedback system used to measure and understand access to the arts in Duval County.
• Florida Philanthropic Network -In the 2020 Census, Florida's population was undercounted by 3.48% which means Florida could lose up to $11 billion in federal funds. To prevent this in the 2030 Census, the internsworked with FPN to understand who was undercounted in each Florida county so it could be addressed.
• Jacksonville Area Legal Aid- One of JALA's biggest problems is the lag-time between onset of a legal issue and the eventual contact with a lawyer willing to address it. This challenge is more prevalent in underserved populations who sometimes lack trust or means necessary to identify a legal issue and contact a lawyer. JALA requested support for a pilot program to launch a capacity building data aggregation and analytics tool targeting outreach to those most at-risk.
• Florida Health Justice Project- FHJP recognizes that accessibility to quality and affordable healthcare is a human right not enjoyed by all Floridians, especially the vulnerable. FHJP's primary objective for the interns was to leverage public data to identify and illustrate the healthcare coverage gaps in each Florida county.